Welcome to Songbird Playschool.
Songbird is a Preschool For All Pilot site. Enrollment for Preschool For All is done in May for the following school year. We will be holding open houses in April for prospective families. We do not enroll outside of Preschool For All. Find out more about Preschool For All here!
Songbird Playschool is a preschool for three to five year old children located in the Lents neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. We provide a reflexive curriculum informed by the unique identities of each child and their home culture. We believe in fostering an admiration and respect for the natural world and spend large parts of the day outdoors in the adjacent Mt. Scott Butte Wilderness. Inspired by Waldorf and Reggio pedagogy, our play-based curriculum serves children with a constructivist and equity-minded lens.
Meet our teachers
Photos by Muriel Hahn
Lainy Morse, MEd
Director, Preschool Teacher
Owner and teacher Lainy Morse has a Masters degree in Early Childhood Education and community based training in anti-bias and inclusion, positive discipline, and Waldorf and Reggio education. She has worked at several preschools in varying roles from teacher to director over the last decade. Lainy believes that play guides learning in the early years and enjoys making music and art with young children.
She lives with her husband, teenage daughter, two rescue pups, two cats, and rabbit in East Portland. She enjoys a good long walk and playing her guitar.
Heather Whisner
Preschool Teacher
Heather discovered her affinity for the joy and wonder that unfolds during the early childhood years on her journey as a mother. The first time she entered a Waldorf kindergarten, she knew that was where she was meant to be, and soon after, she began her training as a Waldorf early childhood educator. Heather directed her own in-home early childhood program for four years and was a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher for eight years. She values the importance of play-based learning that allows children the freedom to explore as they grow and develop a sense of belonging to the world around them. Heather enjoys forest walks, gardening, herbal studies, and crafting things with her hands. She lives with her husband, teenage son, and dog in a beloved old house with a growing family of plants.
Brianna Peaslee
Preschool Teacher
Brianna (she/they) approaches early learning with lenses in art and social practice, social justice, constructivism and is inspired by Reggio Emilia education communities.
She came to education spheres through art in 2007 and has since been cultivating their teaching practice through study, collaboration and practice..
Brianna has taught in Portland (Richmond Japanese Immersion Art and Helen Gordon CDC) and Japan (Kansai International School Kindergarten). She has an enduring love of art, language, nature, children’s literature and making connections. In this fascinating time in children’s learning, They integrate and document all modalities of inquiry into our learning opportunities. She seeks to reflect the learning and processes through documentation and is eager to reflect together with children, parents and educators in the Songbird community.
Annie Farinas
Assistant Teacher/ Spanish language teacher
Annie is originally from Venezuela and lived in Colombia for five years. Her family is from Colombia. She arrived in Portland in November 2022 and started working with Early Pre-K in February 2023.
In her role as an Early Pre-K teacher, she developed and implemented age-appropriate curricula that promoted the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of children. She employs a variety of teaching strategies, including guided play, hands-on activities, and sensory experiences, to ensure that each child has the opportunity to explore and learn at their own pace.
One of her greatest satisfactions is witnessing the progress each child makes throughout the year. From learning to socialize with peers to achieving milestones in language development and fine motor skills, each small success is a reason to celebrate. She is proud to be part of an educational community dedicated to the well-being and development of children.
Waldorf Inspired. Child Led. Equity Minded.
Waldorf Inspired
Waldorf education is whole child education that follows a predictable daily and seasonal rhythm. Art, music, and a reverence for the natural world inspire our work with children. Throughout the day, children are invited to participate in daily work activities with their teacher such as baking, gardening, soup making, and hand work. Waldorf education views children’s play as instrumental in helping them make sense of the world around them.
Child Led
Reggio inspired education uses observation of children’s play to create relevant curriculum. Teachers are active observers of play and utilize observation to scaffold future learning experiences. Through play, children learn socio-emotional skills, body and spacial awareness, and the foundations of science, math, and literacy. Child led play is the work of early childhood.
Equity Minded
Equity and Inclusion are values that we see as pivotal in raising humans who celebrate diversity with love and acceptance. We acknowledge that all humans are not given the same set of privileges needed to succeed in our society. Our school strives to offer culturally relevant curriculum in an inclusive setting. We invite families to share their home stories with us as a way to bring to light the breadth of human experience. We support children with learning differences by examining children as individuals and work collaboratively with parents to create supportive relationships.